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The College of Advanced Education (CAE) was a class of Australian tertiary education institutions that existed from 1967 until the early 1990s. They were similar to Australian Universities of the period, but were state owned and controlled instead of federally funded and independent. Many issued their own degrees and higher awards, but these tended to be less prestigious than those from "universities" and more vocational rather than academic in character. They offered shorter courses, such as certificates and diplomas in addition to degrees. Additionally, their staff were paid less.

They were designed to compliment Universities, forming a binary system modelled on that of the United Kingdom. This system was created by the Sir Robert Menzies government, under the advice of the "Committee on the Future of Tertiary Education in Australia", chaired by Sir Leslie Martin.

The initial intention was for them not to issue degrees, instead offering lesser awards. However in the first year of the sector's establishment, the Victorian College of Pharmacy was permitted to issue a degree by the Victorian government, and it's Commonwealth funding was not cut off for breaking it's rules. Many other degree courses followed, and the policy was reviewed.

Until 1974, the sector mainly comprised of technical, agricultural and specialist paramedical colleges. In that year, the state government controlled Teachers College systems became CAEs, and suddenly half the students in the sector were studying teaching.

The colleges were known by a number of different titles:

• "Colleges of Advanced Education" were generally ex-"Teachers Colleges" that slowly diversified their course offerings after their name (and often concurrent structure) changes. These changes happened at a time when more teachers were being trained than the local market could support.
• "Institutes of Technology" were vocational educationally oriented and offered a range of courses up to higher education level.
• Other names, often with the title "college" or "institute" were also used.

This sector ceased to exist when the Hawke-Keating governments decided to expand university funding. The states, eager to get this funding, merged CAEs either with existing universities or with each other to form new ones. Details of these mergers is available in an AVCC report, see External links below.

In each state, the most prestigious university that was founded on a core of Institutes of Technology became a founding member of the Australian Technology Network.

• Category:Universities in Australia
• Institute of technology
• Technical and Further Education

• AVCC report detailing what happened to each CAE (PDF, 74KB).
• Razor gang to Dawkins : a History of Victoria College: an Australian College of Advanced Education
• The ‘Colleges’: Growth and Diversity in the Non-university Tertiary Studies Sector (1965–1974)